This application relates to apparatus, systems and techniques for laser surgery.
Laser surgery is a common medical procedure, especially in opthalmology. Although a number of different lasers are used in opthalmology, photodisruptive lasers have specific optical delivery requirements that make them unique. Because photodisruption requires that the laser pulse be focused to a relatively small spot to achieve laser induced optical breakdown, the optical path into the tissue should be optimized to reduce distortion and the laser beam is focused to a desired 3-dimensional position to deliver the laser pulses that cause photodisruption. These and other aspects of photodisruptive laser surgery are different from other laser surgery procedures that use inherent or induced tissue absorption of delivered laser pulses to mediate surgical effects and thus typically have fewer and less stringent optical delivery requirements. For photodisruptive lasers, critical requirements include maintaining quality of the optical focus of the laser beam as it enters the target and appropriately positioning the optical focus in the tissue to mediate the surgical effect.